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HybridZ

4.3 conversion


John Scott

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Thanks, Pete. I am familiar w/ the book and the placement of the jtr mounts. Still the motor mount similarities of the 4.3 and smallblock, in the JTR's mount position, would place the TRANSMISSION of the V6 swap closer to the front of the car by more than 4" than in the v8. The front of the engines will be in the same location. If you go from the back of the engine placement, mine is like the v/8 placement, then the mounts are out of reach of the Datsun pads. In fact, the Datsun mount pads are well in front of face of my engine.

Finally got the JTR book for future reference.

JS

 

[This message has been edited by John Scott (edited April 28, 2000).]

 

[This message has been edited by John Scott (edited April 28, 2000).]

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Hey John, Thanks again for all the helpful advise! I'm still undesided about which V6 I'm going to run both chevy and buick have pro's and con's, though I would like to be different. Supercharging will be the great

equalizer for me and since my ride is a

72 240Z I won't have to be bothered with smog

in my state. Fuel injection would be nice but I may have to go the carburated way. Keep up the good work and thanks again!

 

 

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Yes the 4.3 and the smallblock v8 have the motor mounts in the same location, in reference to the FRONT of their engines. You could conceivably use the JTR kit which would achieve having the FRONT of the v6 exactly where the front of the v8 is placed. The problem is that the v6 is shorter by 1 cyl/bank so the transmission and all its mass come forward into the engine compartment. This would be a simple swap for it would allow access to the bellhousing bolts and great tunnel clearance, and you'd need a longer than my 19" driveshaft. BUT, you lose the great handling/balance potential of placing it against the firewall. Setting the engine as far back as I did placed the chevy mounts WAY behind the Datsun pad locations. My rear bias is slightly heavier in the rear, even more so than the V8 swap. The handling benifits will be superior with my or similar placement.

JS

 

[This message has been edited by John Scott (edited April 29, 2000).]

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John, FYI the JTR kit is the one that installs the V8 in the set back position, so that the engine/bellhousing mounting surface is just an inch or so ahead of the firewall.

 

The old Scarab and Nordskog kits installed the engine so that the bellhousing/engine mounting surface was 4-5 inches forward of the firewall.

 

 

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Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project - pparaska@tidalwave.net">pparaska@tidalwave.net -

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John, I guess that the mount pads of the Chevy V6 are the same distance back from the front of the block as the V8, so the bellhousing mounting surface is a whole cylinder closer to the front of the engine, like they cut off two cylinders from the back of the V8. Got it - thanks.

 

Sound like a good reason to add another crossmember to mount the engine to.

 

Cheers,

Pete

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Good point Pete, Yeah, I discussed that with a chassis builder who was building my mounts and crossmember. Front mount engines can put a lot of stress on the bell housing. Usually some additional support is recommended at the bell area. We figured, and hopefully we were correct, (so far so good) that the shorter v6 could get by with just the front mounts. They are in a similar location from the bellhousing forward as the v8. I'm going to try and post some pics of my mounting system to give a clear idea of what I've done. I really like being able to drop my oilpan, crank, and all w/o pulling the engine!

JS

 

[This message has been edited by John Scott (edited April 29, 2000).]

 

[This message has been edited by John Scott (edited April 29, 2000).]

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John, I was actually referring to a new crossmember for the stock engine pad mounts. I should have been more clear. I've heard of people adding another crossmember 4 inches or so aft of the stock Z engine crossmember so that the could have it directly below the engine mounts on the pads.

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How about a motor plate? This seems like an easy solution and very easy to position your engine exactly where you want with no header

clearance problems. Just hack off the factory datsun "horns", weld some angle iron or some steel plates to the 2 exposed sides of the frame rails, notch the motor plate acordingly and the weld some vertical tabs on the frame rails and drill a hole through the two plates...

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Myron, They make some cool plates for the smallblock/ v6. Thanks for the idea. See! Lots of solutions to put the 4.3 in the Z. Oh yeah, the V6 isn't recommended to have soild mounts. Some kind of damper or bushing would be necessary.

John

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by John Scott (edited May 09, 2000).]

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